Importance of good USB cable between computer and DAC

[chebby]

No, but personally I can't "prove" that the moon is actually smaller than the sun.

Small ... far away ...

 

[fr0g]

No, but personally I can't "prove" that the moon is actually smaller than the sun.

Small ... far away ...

Is that the "real" Lemon?

 

[lilneige]

Some people claim an usb power purifier have greater effect on SQ by reduce the noise between the computer and DAC.

 

[davedotco]

Some people claim an usb power purifier have greater effect on SQ by reduce the noise between the computer and DAC.

A competent dac design should be able to cope with that, no problem.

But then, over the years I have heard a fair few dacs that were clearly not competent....... :wall:

 

[respe]

Good to see the warmth of humanity running through your veins, frog.

So you can prove the paul miller review and tests are junk, can you?

Dont know, can subjective reviews be proved either way. They are opinion, and one is as valid as another.

 

[busb]

Some people claim an usb power purifier have greater effect on SQ by reduce the noise between the computer and DAC.

A competent dac design should be able to cope with that, no problem.

But then, over the years I have heard a fair few dacs that were clearly not competent....... :wall:

Depends Dave what you mean by competent. My M-DAC didn't like my Sony Vaio's USB's output at all if the Sony was powered from the mains. I'd get interference. This was unrelated to the quality of the cable. Other M-DAC owners have solved similar problems with galvanic isolators. Some have found USB 5V splitters have also helped.

I now use USB as the connection for music listening from my Mac Mini in async mode - sounds fab.

 

[davedotco]

Some people claim an usb power purifier have greater effect on SQ by reduce the noise between the computer and DAC.

A competent dac design should be able to cope with that, no problem.

But then, over the years I have heard a fair few dacs that were clearly not competent....... :wall:

Depends Dave what you mean by competent. My M-DAC didn't like my Sony Vaio's USB's output at all if the Sony was powered from the mains. I'd get interference. This was unrelated to the quality of the cable. Other M-DAC owners have solved similar problems with galvanic isolators. Some have found USB 5V splitters have also helped.

I now use USB as the connection for music listening from my Mac Mini in async mode - sounds fab.

Interesting.

I have found other dacs by the same designer to suffer similar problems, seemingly very sensitive to out of band noise, but only in some cases.

It can lead to a dac sounding harsh and 'grainy' with some transports while sounding fine with others. Was certainly a problem some years ago though I thought modern designs had that pretty much sorted.